What are the advantages and disadvantages of shared web hosting plans when creating websites? Which type of shared web hosting is best to start sites online?
Today we will cover not only what is shared web hosting, but also what you must know before buying it online for your business. This way as a beginner you will be able to make a good decision that you will happy with later.
Before you can start any website, blog or eCommerce store online you must buy domain name and web hosting.
Your domain name will simply be the name of your blog. For example, the name of this blog is https://bestwebhostingforwordpress.net. Yours might be .com, .net, .org, .info, etc.
These are quite easy to reserve online by going to any domain registrar. However, the bigger task is to get web hosting. Web hosting is what will store all of your content, images, files and databases of your site. It will be stored on a computer server that runs 24/7/365 and will serve your website to people when they type your domain into their browser.
Now for beginners online, you will likely be searching for the cheapest way to save money on your website. This is where shared web hosting comes into play.
So before we get into the advantages and disadvantages of shared web hosting plans, let’s first talk about what it is.
What Is Shared Web Hosting?
I want you to think about shared web hosting like an apartment with several roommates. Although they may make one payment each month to a landlord, this is divided among the tenants. Benefit? This makes it easier for all roommates being each person pays less money out of pocket. You share water, electricity, food, bathroom, etc.
When you purchase shared web hosting, you will be renting space on the server of a web hosting company. This server will store all of your website images, content, databases and files and serve it to others when they try to access it.
There are literally hundreds of thousands of web hosting companies online to choose from. These companies will basically allow hundreds or even thousands of people to share the resources of 1 server. In exchange, you will pay a super low rate for hosting your website, blog or eCommerce store online.
Who Is Shared Web Hosting For?
It’s typically for beginners trying to create their very first site online and expect to have web light traffic. If you are on a super tight shoestring budget, then it’s recommended to start with shared web hosting. Why? It’s cheaper and easier to get online.
However, let’s be honest and say that it’s not for everybody. Apartments with roommates can be okay and serve their purpose, but everyone eventually wants to have their own home. This way you can have more control over your property and do whatever you want whenever you want being you own it.
With shared web hosting, you are like a roommate sharing space with someone else.
Most people who start off using shared web hosting typically make a change within a couple of years or when they continuously get traffic spikes.
How Much Does A Shared Hosting Plan Usually Costs? Renewals?
So you may wonder what does a shared hosting plan costs typically?
When you consider most web hosting providers online, their costs for shared web hosting typically runs in the ballpark of $10 – $15/month. This is really cheap being that you can run a business online that your visitors can access and drive you sales 24/7/365.
However, sometimes web hosting providers will offer what are called introductory rates. These are basically special rates that are super low that attract the masses. Try to compare it to an apartment complex or storage unit that offers FREE rent for the 1st month. If you saw a sign like this, no doubt it would catch your attention, right?
Some shared web hosting companies do the same thing by allowing beginners to start online for under $5/month. This no doubt will save you a lot of money upfront. The trick to saving the most money with these types of deals is to buy more years of web hosting upfront.
For example, most web hosting providers will give you the option of buying 1, 2, 3 years upfront. If you see deals like this, then it’s an awesome idea to jump on it and take advantage of it. Why?
Because when your web hosting term ends, then it will renew at a higher rate. This is typical for ANY web hosting provider no matter if its shared, Managed WordPress, Cloud, VPS or Dedicated. They ALL increase when renewed.
So if you are a beginner online, then there is no need to buy Managed, Cloud, VPS or Dedicated hosting because these are a little more pricier and you don’t need it yet. Just stick with a shared web hosting provider until you get more traction online and then you can always upgrade later.
Advantages and Disadvantages of Shared Web Hosting Plans?
Now that you understand what is shared web hosting, let’s review many of the benefits that you will receive by using it.
Advantages of Shared Hosting:
- Cheap with great introductory deals
- Convenient
- Most give a free domain name for 1st year
- Easy to get started online
- No need need for coding or html experience
- Many use cPanel dashboard which which is great for site migrations
- Allows you to host multiple domains and create many websites
Disadvantages of Shared Web Hosting?
On the other hand, let’s look at some disadvantages of using shared web hosting. This way you will have a balanced view and complete picture of what to expect.
- Shared hosting is slow with page loads and speeds
- Spotty uptime performance
- Lots of downtime / website crashes
- Longer wait times / Slower response due sometimes understaffed customer support
- Some don’t have good security against spam, malware, hackers, brute force & ddos attacks
- Restrictions with bandwidth, disk space, storage
- Servers not equipped to handle several request
- May have lack of full access to resources that are supposedly allocated to each account
Should You Use Shared Hosting?
This review is not here to convince you about using it or not. You should get a web hosting package if you feel it’s best for you to get started.
Shared web hosting is usually best for newbies online who are on a tight budget. It’s ideal for smaller websites that do not have a lot of web traffic online. This is because most shared web hosting plans [not all] have restrictions or limitations on things like bandwidth and data transfers.
Sometimes if you exceed these limits, you could be charged extra for visits, forced to upgrade your package or outright deleted online.
In some cases, when websites exceed bandwidth or web traffic limits set by web hosting providers, then this high traffic can crash your website online. This is bad because if a visitor is trying to access your website online, if it’s not available then this will create a bad experience.
This is why before your website gains more traction online you have in place a content delivery network to handle high traffic. Some shared web hosting providers will have a CDN included in your hosting plan while others may charge for it.
My websites online use CDNs so that they can process all of the traffic that I receive. I highly recommend that you get a super reliable shared hosting that also offers a content delivery network with servers data centers. This will ensure better performance and reliability online.
5 Best Shared Web Hosting for Beginners
Although there are many advantages and disadvantages of shared web hosting plans, the following 5 hosts are super reliable and best for beginners.
Inmotion Hosting starts at only $2.75/month and offers a 90 day money back guarantee. For more details on Inmotion hosting, please visit here: www.inmotionhosting.com
Hostpapa starts at only $3.95/month and offer a 30 day money back guarantee. For more details on Hostpapa, visit here www.hostpapa.com
Bluehost starts at only $2.95/month and offers a 30 day money back guarantee. For more details on Bluehost, visit here: www.bluehost.com
Siteground starts at $6.99/month and offers a 30 day money back guarantee. For more details on Siteground, please visit here www.siteground.com
Namecheap starts at $3.88/month and offers a 30 day money back guarantee. For more details on Namecheap, please visit here www.namecheap.com
To discover some more reliable shared providers to create sites online, see these web hosting for WordPress.
When To Upgrade To Managed Hosting
So when should you upgrade from shared to Managed hosting? If you have been using shared hosting for quite some time, then you may arrive to the point that requires a change. If you notice that your web hosting provider is having lots of security issues, super slow performance, lots of downtime and your website is crashing, then it’s time to upgrade.
Now although Managed WordPress hosting does costs a few bucks more, it’s totally worth it. You will get blazing fast page loads and speeds, rock solid uptime performance, faster customer support and better security. All of these factors will allow you to focus more on running your business and less on the logistics.
Websites that have better uptime performance deliver a superior experience to your visitors. With better security your websites will stay secure 24/7/365. You will receive dedicated resources specifically for your website that you won’t be robbed of as with some shared web hosting.
There are a few super reliable Managed WordPress providers that are highly recommended to give your site optimum performance. The great thing is that the following 5 hosts all offer pay as you go hosting & FREE Trials.
This is a great way to test out a provider before actually buying and launching a website with it. This is another disadvantage of shared web hosting plans. In most cases, you must always pay upfront before trying it.
5 Best Managed Hosting For WordPress
- Nexcess has an amazing deal running now where you can get 30% OFF 3 Months of hosting. For more details, use code 30OFF3MO here at www.nexcess.net
- Liquid Web has awesome deal running now where you can get 50% OFF Dedicated servers or 40% on 3 Months. Use code WINTER40 here at www.liquidweb.com
- Devrims is an excellent Managed Cloud hosting provider that offers 6-Day Free Trial. For more details, go here www.devrims.com
- Cloudways has Managed Cloud hosting starts at only $10/month, but has a FREE Trial here at www.cloudways.com
- Nestify has Managed WordPress hosting built on AWS starting at only $9/month, but offers a FREE Trial here at www.nestify.io
Benefits and Disadvantages of Shared Web Hosting Plans Conclusion
As you could see this review today, there are many advantages and disadvantages of shared web hosting plans for creating websites.
Remember that although there are several different types of hosting, beginners should ALWAYS start with shared web hosting. It’s cheap, convenient, easy to use and provides some decent resources for smaller websites.
However, as your website grows over time and you start to notice more web traffic spikes, then maybe it’s time to upgrade from shared hosting to Managed hosting. When you do so, you will have blazing fast page loads, rock solid uptime performance, better security and faster customer support.
Using Managed hosting is definitely worth paying a few extra bucks a month for the additional quality and peace of mind. Again, this will help you to focus more on your business and less on the logistics or mechanics of running it online.
I hope that this brief consideration has helped you to fully understand the true advantages and disadvantages of shared web hosting plans.
Let me ask you a few questions before I let you go. Have you created a site before or will this be your first one? Which shared or Managed hosting provider above do you feel will be best for your business needs? Are there any advantages and disadvantages of shared web hosting plans that were not mentioned that you want to add? Let me know your thoughts below in the comments area.
I hope that you have much success online with your business online this year going forward! Stay safe during Covid 🙂